By Guy Leshinski
Making Contact by Barry Siskind Macmillan
Canada
Barry Siskind is the kind of guy most of us would like as a permanent consultant.
According to the cover of his new book Making Contact, he is “North America’s foremost trade and consumer shoe expert.” This suggests the man is the ideal writer for a detailed handbook on the art of business networking—after all, endless hours spent with budding capitalists has to rub off somehow.
So here it is: a textbook of instructions on how to land a great job or climb the ladder where you work now with proper networking etiquette—all presented in bold print and easy-to-understand terms. Coming across as the ‘bloke-next-door,’ Siskind serves up lists, quizzes, graphs, charts and anecdotes with the hope of turning the reader’s bleak career outlook into a well of golden opportunity.
An early example is his approach to overcoming the fear of meeting people. One of his tips: try using empowering words like “I could” and “I know” instead of lack-of-power ones like “I should” and “I hope.” Later he comments, “developing a sensitivity to differences is what makes networking fun, challenging and an endless quest for information.” With that in mind, he says, it’s a waste of time and energy worrying about political correctness: “as long as you treat people with respect, you will be fine.”
Another example shows one of the book’s weaknesses, which, oddly enough, is also a strength. Siskind frequently intermingles the business agenda—”keeping your ears open for gossip can give you inside information” he advises—with a moral or philosophical one—”don’t make up stories or embellish them.” These blatantly obvious assertions dull the edge of his high-powered strategy, but put the intimidating task of developing or enhancing a career into steps of almost child-like simplicity. To Siskind, success is all in the know-how; if nothing else, he is an excellent motivator.
Siskind’s keys to good career making are confidence, preparation and determination. While this is no revelation, his detailed account of how to enhance each key area is useful and entertaining. It’s a lot to take in a single read, but makes for good subway reading. And as the author himself suggests, you never know what kind of opportunities you may be attracting.
By F. Bandersnatch
Miss Silver’s Past by Josef Skvorecky
Vintage Books
Exile seems to lend automatic weight to artists. Sort of a variation on the “poor guy must really understand pain” syndrome. Therefore, it’s always gratifying when a good comic novel is turned out by an exile. But Skvorecky (a Canadian emigré of 1968) has done this with Miss Silver’s Past.
Not too comic, mind you. The main character, Leden, walks a thin line between his job at a publishing house and his sanity, and is drawn out by the arrival of Lenka Silver, his crush on her, and, abruptly, her involvement in murder.
Miss Silver is, at its heart, a mystery story and a protest against the draconian control of an oppressive government. As Leden unravels the threads of Silver’s past, he is drawn both into her world and out of his secure life. The sharp wit of Skvorecky’s writing dramatically contrasts the murder and tragedy that drenches the novel, making the serious moments all the more poignant when they arrive.
While Miss Silver certainly isn’t for everyone, it is a satisfying read, and a worthwhile initiation to Skvorecky’s rather daunting body of work.
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